A fake account purporting to be the spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces circulated a picture of a burning ship and stated that the drone operation was an offensive action by the Yemeni Armed Forces against an Israeli ship in the Indian Ocean.
Several accounts, including @army2lye tweeted “Our Yemeni armed forces carry out an offensive operation against an Israeli ship in the Indian Ocean With a drone, the hit was direct to the ship We assure everyone that the Yemeni coast is a holocaust for the Zionist-Israeli enemy An important statement by the Yemeni Armed Forces in the coming hours”. The tweet was made on Dec 23, 2023, which has received an about 522.5k views on X.
قواتنا المسلحة اليمنية تنفذ عملية هجومية ضد سفينة إسرائيلية في المحيط الهندي
— العميد يحيى سريع (@army2lye) December 23, 2023
بطائرة مسيرة وكانت الإصابة مباشرة للسفية
الإسرائيلية ونوكد للجميع بأن السواحل اليمنية محرقة العدو الصهيوني الإسرائيلي
بيان هام للقوات المسلحة اليمنية خلال الساعات القادمة pic.twitter.com/JdrO6miz54
What is the Actual Truth About this Incident? : Fact
The truth is that on May 20, 2021, the cargo ship “MV X-Press Pearl,” registered in Singapore, carrying chemicals caught fire off the coast of Colombo. The picture is outdated and unrelated to Yemen’s targeting of an Israeli ship.
We visited Gulf Times, which published an article on this incident on June 1, 2021 with the headline ” Sri Lanka ship fire extinguished after 13 days”.
But a cargo ship sailing from Saudi Arabia to India was attacked off the coast of Gujarat. Similar allegations have been made in relation to recent photos of the MV X-Press Pearl.
This was properly clarified in detail when we visited BBC News and The Guardian. The articles explained in detail about this incident, which confirmed that all the claims made by the propagandists were fake.
Check out our tweet for reference:
1434
— D-Intent Data (@dintentdata) December 15, 2023
ANALYSIS: Misleading
FACT: An image is being shared with misleading claims that The Yemeni Armed Forces Navy, carried out a military operation against the container ship which was heading toward #Israel, it was targeted by drones, and the ship was directly hit. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/xrgiZluAvy
D-Intent’s Fact-Checking Results:
1463
— D-Intent Data (@dintentdata) December 24, 2023
ANALYSIS: Misleading
FACT: A fake account impersonating Spokesperson of the Yemeni Armed Forces circulating an image of a burning ship claiming that Yemeni Armed Forces carried out an offensive operation against an Israeli ship in the Indian Ocean with a drone. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/yQ73JHM6Q2
Intent:
User circulating old images with false claims to set propaganda against Israel. Users have claimed that the Yemeni Armed Forces are said to have used a drone to conduct an offensive operation against an Israeli ship in the Indian Ocean, according to a fake account purporting to be the spokesperson of the Yemeni Armed Forces and spreading an image of a burning ship. After proper research, analysis and fact-checking, we have discovered that this picture actually shows the “MV X-Press Pearl,” a cargo ship registered in Singapore, catching fire on May 20, 2021, off the coast of Colombo while carrying chemicals. It is not related to Yemen targeting an Israeli ship; the picture is old. On the other hand, a cargo ship going from Saudi Arabia to India was attacked off the coast of Gujarat. Similar accusations have recently been made in relation to pictures of the MV X-Press Pearl.
Conclusion:
Claim : A fake account impersonating a Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson is circulating an image of a burning ship, claiming that the Yemeni Armed Forces used a drone to conduct an offensive operation against an Israeli ship in the Indian Ocean.
Fact : The image shows a Singapore-registered cargo ship “MV X-Press Pearl” carrying chemicals that caught fire off the coast of Colombo on May 20, 2021. The image is from the past and has nothing to do with Yemen’s targeting of an Israeli ship. A cargo ship, on its way from Saudi Arabia to India, was attacked off the coast of Gujarat. Images of the MV X-Press Pearl have recently circulated, with similar claims.
